Bedtime is quiet.
You keep saying you forget.
I’m losing my mind.
Potty training stinks.
Your diapers stink even more.
PLEASE use the toilet.
You’ve made it this long.
But now you peed on my things.
You’re pushing your luck.
We have such cute kids.
I thought I wanted one more.
They have changed my mind.
According to my calculations, today is supposed to be day 34 of my “40 days of Faith, Family, and Funnies.” I’m just a wee-bit behind. But c’mon. Did any of you think I’d actually complete 40 consecutive days of blogging? 7 days was a stretch, and frankly, it wasn’t even fun at that point. Life gets busy and time is always short. I did manage to squeeze in an 8th post about Jacob and his “boy tights,” making my goal 1/5 of a success. And I’d say 1/5 success is better than no success at all. (Like that positive spin?) I was only short a mere 32 posts, and really, now that I’m almost… well, let’s just say I’m older than 32…, 32 seems like such a small number.
But since my goal was 40, and since the reason I started this challenge in the first place was to focus on the things I am most thankful for (Faith, Family, Funnies… and Friends), I decided I’d catch up in one random blog post. So, below you’ll find a list of 32 randoms… mostly within those categories. Some other topics may have snuck their way in, too.
1. First, a boy-tights update. For those of you that were so very concerned about my poor son and his undergarments, I saw boxes of long-johns at Costco. While I admit I quickly became that annoying shopper (according to my husband) who looks through all 6 bins (moving each one out of the way) to find the right size, I did so in a less-crowded Costco (Burlington) and without blocking the entire aisle or neighboring products. I also completed the hunt with incessant grumbling from the Husband. But here’s the deal: you don’t get to grumble about your son having to wear boy-tights and also grumble about your wife taking the time to look for long-john replacements of the correct size. It’s one or the other, Buddy.
Alas, there was not even one box left in all 6 bins that would fit, so boy-tights it is. Jacob doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, he asked to wear boy tights just the other day.
2. The kids got to spend a day Christmas-crafting with my aunt, uncle, and my cousins’ kids. They were SUPER excited about it and had a total blast. Later that night when we were back home, Annalise said to me, “I had so much fun today! I wish I could stay at Auntie Jill’s for 100 years… I would do it, except you would be dead when I got back. So I guess I won’t.” Nice to know she loves me enough to want to see me at least once before I’m dead.
3. While having a little fun with Jacob, I may have given him the impression he has magic powers that can cause doors to open and close at his command. The van door opens with the push of a button on the key fob, so when he was frustrated at not being able to pull it open I playfully told him, “Just tell the door to open.” He did. I pushed the button. The door opened. I really didn’t intend on it going much further, except that now he enjoys telling the van door to open and close often, and it works every time. Or at least when I’m in earshot and have the fob in my hand.
There have even been a few times where he’s headed out to the car first and I hear him yelling at the door to open while I’m still inside locking up. He stops yelling commands to the door, pauses, and changes his tone to his sweetest voice, “Door, could you please open for me?” I quick grab the fob and push the button. You know, just to reinforce the whole good-manners thing.
Well…. It’s all fun and games until you find yourself standing outside of Rite Aid trying to get your 2-year-old to the car, only to discover he is standing in front of the automatic doors, totally hollering at them in complete frustration to CLOSE! CLOSE, DOORS, WIGHT NOW! Only they won’t close… because, as I already said, he is standing in front of them. Ah well. At least his sister got a kick out of it. And we entertained a few customers in the process.
4. Today, Annalise spent some time being grumpy with a capital G. I had totally lost patience and was at my wits end trying to think of what to do with her besides lock her in her room forever when Jacob suddenly ran over to her, pulled at her sleeve as though he had just grabbed a loose hair off it, and ran towards the kitchen. I had no idea what he was doing until I heard the cupboard door under the sink slam shut as he hollers toward the living room, “Don’t worry, Sissy! I just took all your grumpies from you. And I FREW dem wight in da garbage! NO more grumpies!” Matt and I looked at each other in amazement and started to laugh hysterically. We had no idea where that came from. His own idea, I guess. He took those grumpies right off her sleeve and ran straight towards the garbage with ’em! I guess he’d had enough, too.
As though that wasn’t funny enough, just minutes later, Annalise (still very grumpy) was frustrated about something. Suddenly she let out a loud sigh, “UGH. Jay-cuh-ub!” (The 3-syllable Jacob always means the same thing, she is super frustrated with something he did or is doing.) “I think you actually threw away my happies! UGH.”
And there you have it, folks. The (already) grumpy girl found a way to blame her brother on her grumpies. It is his fault, of course, because he threw away the wrong thing. If you’re missing your own happies, you might want to check the garbage can.
Well, that’s it for “Catching up.” Yes, it’s only 4 stories. Did I say 32? That may have been over-estimating my time to sit and write (not to mention everyone else’s interest level.) So I think I’ll stick with four and call it good.
May you have a merry Christmas season full of kids who love you enough to want to see you (at least once), magic doors, and grumpies in the garbage.
Loves.
So, you may have noticed I didn’t make it to my 40 days of Faith, Family, and Funnies (and Friends, which I added later.) Or maybe you didn’t notice because you hid me on Facebook after I posted a link to my blog each day for 7 days.
Either way, here I am, attempting Day 8…3 Days Late.
The actual “Day 8” was Monday. Monday is a day off for me. I never got around to writing, though, because on this particular “day off,” I:
That last one wasn’t on my original to-do list, but sometimes circumstances require adjusting our plans. You can only imagine the circumstances that led to that addition to my list…
In summary: one learned from a friend all about hell, taught the other, and then they both felt the need to use their new found knowledge in discerning whether the behaviors of their sibling were going to lead them there or not. I quickly interrupted the conversation and used it as an opportunity to teach important life lessons. i.e. You should not say things like, “If you don’t stop standing on my box, you’ll go to hell.” Which lead to replies like, “I am NOT going to hell. YOU go to hell.”
The discussion was overheard in the monitor (yes, we still have one, for moments such as this), and initiated a conversation I didn’t think I’d ever have with a 2 and 5-year old. Our conversation included phrases from Annalise like, “Jacob, I’m sorry I said you need to go to hell for stepping on my box.” Followed by Jacob, “(GASP) MOMMY! Leesie just said to me to go to hell! I do not want to go to that hot place!” The Phrase came out of my little angels’ mouths far too often as I talked with them, as though they liked it even better once they realized it wasn’t appropriate. And although this was not a conversation I ever envisioned having with them, it did lead to a great discussion about Jesus’ sacrifice and God’s grace. Those are two things I am super thankful for, because you know what? I do not want to go to that hot place, either!
Later that night, after giving the kids a bath, I was telling Jacob about when he was a teeny-tiny baby ginormous nearly 10-pound newborn and had to spend 4 nights in the hospital just a few weeks later because he was very very sick. I told him that even though I knew him for just a few weeks, I loved him so so much that I wouldn’t leave his side. (I didn’t mention that I actually did step away for a short time while long needles were being poked into his spine. Daddy was with him then. I figured I wouldn’t be much help sobbing hysterically right next to him, so instead I just cried all alone in the corner of another room.)
And I told him that even though he was a very big little baby, he wore the teeniest-tiniest hospital gown I’d ever seen. It was so teeny-tiny that it made me cry when they gave it to me. I told him about the medicine they needed to give him every day, and how he had a needle in his arm where they could give him the medicine, and because he was just so little, his arm was tied to a board so he wouldn’t pull out the very-important-medicine-needle.
I told him that the medicine had to go into his body for 14 days, and he was only barely that old already. And that after a few days, they took the medicine needle out of his arm, and they poked a big hole in his ankle and made a tube run up, up, up his leg, then up, up, up his chest all the way to his heart. We touched the scar on his ankle and thanked Jesus for making him better, and we thanked Him for making doctors. And we thanked Him for medicine that helps us get better. I told him that his scar could always remind him to be thankful to God for providing all these things, and for healing.
And as I whispered the story in the silent room to my wide-eyed boy, I tickled the path on his leg and chest where the tube ran. And I told him that even though I was scared each and every time, Mommy put that medicine in the tube that stuck out of his ankle every few hours for 10 days. And I prayed each and every time I did it. And that medicine went up, up, up the tube in his leg, and up, up, up, his chest, and then it came out right where the tube stopped: at his heart. I whispered it again. “The medicine had to go to your heart.”
Annalise, doll now tossed aside so she could listen to the story and touch Jacob’s scar and watch where the medicine ran up his body, suddenly blurted out, “POOR JESUS!”
“Poor Jesus?” I asked, confused and startled from the loud noise in the quiet.
“Yeah!” She replied. “He was probably covered in medicine. You just kept squirting it into Jacob’s heart. It was probably all over him!”
Jacob looked at me and said with a hint of irritation and surprise, “Yeah, Mommy. Jesus is in my heart. And you just squirted medicine on Him!”
End of story. But I can see I have more to explain…
Oh yes. And the breaking news:
That’s right, folks. I made it on the tree. Never mind that she wanted to put Izzy on again (the dog has been a suggestion numerous nights). Never mind the pink tree made it on last week. Never mind that I was beat out – by one day – by the dog’s scarf that she got after getting groomed. Yes, that’s right, Annalise was thankful for “Izzy’s Scarf” before she was thankful for her own mother. The important thing is, I MADE IT ON THE TREE! Aaaannnndd…. I made it in the first half of the month. Never mind it was the last day of the first half of the month. Because it’s not like I’m counting or anything… The fact is SHE IS THANKFUL FOR MOMMY!
Or even just “mom.” Whatever. I’ll take it. I even got a portrait. Even Izzy didn’t get a portrait.
Day 7 Topic: Funnies. Annalise this time. I’ll be brief.
While we were having brunch at a restaurant, a couple walked by and smiled. The lady leaned over to Matt and whispered, “Just so you know, you have the most adorable children!”
As she walked away, Annalise asked what they said. Matt told her. Annalise asked if it was the man that said it. “No,” Matt replied, “just the lady said it.”
Her response: “Oh. He must not have seen us then!”
Atta girl. I like the confidence.
P.S. A couple of updates…
Eyes to the Hills 